"Well, go now you do know it," resumed Barbara anmollified," and pray another wet day, when mamma is ill, don't get out of the way when the boys come in."

Elizabeth went, and Barbara followed her, the next minute far more dissatisfied with herself than her sister; however, she made the best amends in her power by going herself to the parlour as soon as David had finished, and thus releasing her sister as soon as she could.

Dinner went off with great decorum. After all, even the boys missed Henrietta, and were not inclined to make as merry as they usually did when no elder presided; and matters after dinner progressed equally peacefully till Barbara discovered Gordon contentedly giving the finishing strokes to his hazel stick with her penknife.

"How did you get that, Gordon ?"

“I—I—”

"You don't mean that you went to my desk for it ?"

"It was lying on the table," answered Gordon, relapsing into his usual sulkiness.

"If it were, you had no right to take it. Give it to me at once."

No answer.

"Do you hear ?"

"I won't."

"You shall," repeated Barbara, imperiously, and she seized his hand.

Gordon kicked, struggled, got free, and ran through the hall open knife in hand, Barbara after him. On the oak bench in the hall lolled Will, waiting for David to start for school; as Gordon neared him, he quietly put out his foot, and Gordon fell over it his full length on the floor.

"Will, how could you ?" cried Barbara in a terror; "it might have killed him."

"No such great harm if it had," muttered Will, in

secret terrified himself at their little brother's lying still, instead of roaring as he at first expected and feared.

Barbara rushed to the rescue, tried to pick him up, and then to the relief of both came the well-known burst of passionate cries; his vengeance turning upon Barbara, whom he scratched and kicked until, finding him so truly himself again, she re-demanded the knife, upon which he called her a great many names and tried to run off again.

But she would not let him thus escape, held the hand fast in which he still kept the open knife, and had just succeeded in wrenching it from him, when he made a last struggle, drew it through her hand, and ran off in triumph.

"Go and take it, Will," she cried, and when Will, nothing loth, was off, she opened her hand.

It was cut, and awkwardly, but not as she had feared; and relieved here she had leisure to see how very imprudent, if not wrong, she had been in setting one brother after the other. She followed as quickly as she could do so to find to her relief that Gordon had run up stairs and locked himself into one of the bedrooms, and that thus Will had been able to do nothing more than storm and threaten through the key-hole.

As

Will was obliged to run off to be in time for school, and thus Barbara was rid of her auxiliary far sooner than she could otherwise have hoped to have been so. for Gordon, as long as he was content to stay in the spare-room she must be content to leave him there; she could have no further altercation on the landing, and at least it kept him out of the way; and so as philosophically as she could she went to her own room to wash and bind her hand.

It was a deep cut, and painful, but for this she would have cared little if she had gained her point. To be wounded and defeated too was too bad; however, it could not be helped now, she could only re

solve that the amount of her authority should be clearly ascertained before she undertook the charge of Gordon for another day.

He was tired of his retreat far sooner than she was of being so well rid of him, and came down stairs sobbing and crying and complaining of head-ache. This would have been but a natural consequence of his fall, even if an hour's passion and tears had not been added to it; but Barbara could not help distrusting one upon whose word she had so little reason to rely, and from the very first she thought it was only too likely that the head-ache was at least magnified as a basis from which to beg off learning the afternoon's lessons.

So the first thing she demanded was the knife. There, take it," muttered Gordon, flinging it at

66

her.

It fell at her feet: if it had been her own son she would have made the boy pick it up again, and give it her properly, even in the morning she would have done so, now she was forced to be satisfied with this ill-mannered obedience.

"Now we will see about your head-ache," she said, had better come and lie on the parlour sofa." I want to go to mamma," sobbed Gordon.

you

"It is no good thinking of that; for you cannot disturb her," answered Barbara firmly, "and if you had been a good boy you could have made yourself happy without her."

Gordon suffered himself to be led to the parlour and laid on the sofa, Barbara arranging the cushions to his liking with a careful if not tender hand. Now she first saw that the fall had indeed been a severe one, for a large discoloured lump was rising on the boy's forehead.

"Shall I bathe it ?" she asked more kindly.

66

No, no, don't touch it," cried Gordon, and she left him alone.

So passed one hour. Her cut would not let her

work comfortably, and so she read. Then Gordon

looked up.
"Barbara."

"Yes."

"I can't learn Why not?"

"My head aches so."

Barbara rose, and went to the sofa.

"Now, Gordon, listen. If you had told me the truth to-day, instead of twice telling me lies, I should have believed you at once, and been very glad to let you off. I shall let you off now, because I cannot tell whether you really can learn them or not-and it may be not, but I cannot help distrusting you the whole time."

If he

So saying, Barbara returned to her place. She had at least succeeded in making Gordon thoroughly ashamed of himself. He felt more than once inclined to get up and learn his lessons, if only to earn his good name back again, but unfortunately his love of ease and idleness conquered, and he did not do so. had made such a self-conquest, Barbara would gladly have forgiven and forgotten all, and might have been a real help in strengthening the poor boy's character. She had been beginning to think she should have used gentler words and means, but now she only despised her little brother as much as ever.

Paul came in, a train before his father, who at the last minute had been kept unexpectedly in town. "Well," were his first words, "how is mamma ?" "Just the same, I believe; she has been upstairs all the day; I have not seen her since the morning." "The pain not worse ?"

No, she says not. Only she is thoroughly tired and upset."

"So you have begun your reign early! How has it prospered? Happy and glorious, eh ?"

Barbara shook her head, and looked so miserable that Paul left off joking.

Why, what's the matter ?" "Oh, that Gordon!"

"He is a little plague, I know. Why, what's your hand bound up in that way for? You haven't been fighting ?"

"Something too much like it, I fear," answered Barbara despondingly, "Paul, come out, and let me tell you all."

Paul, hot, tired, and muddy as he was- -it was now a close, warm, rainless evening-suffered himself to be drawn out again, and heard her grievances through. Poor thing!" was his conclusion, "what a wretched you have had of it!"

day

"I won't have another such," answered Barbara with sharp determination, "I don't think mamma will be a bit better to-morrow, so I shall only have it all over again, or worse, for Gordon must see that I have no power to enforce anything,-so I will tell you what I mean to do-tell papa."

"No, no."

Why not? I cannot trouble mamma. I don't want to get anyone into disgrace, or to make any mischief. If I have a cut, poor Gordon has a bruise, so we are quits there. I only want papa to tell me if I am to let things go on as they are without trying to stem the wrong; if he tells me to do so, well and good. The boys may quarrel and fight, and play at foot-ball in the drawing-room, Gordon sit all day in the kitchen if he chooses and do no lessons at all for a week, and it won't concern me. I shall be doing my duty by sitting still. But if I am to use any control or authority, I will have it backed. I am not going to order only to be disobeyed and laughed at, and—I shall tell papa so."

"You had much better not."

"Paul, you do nothing but compromise and temporise now. You are no good to one at all."

"It is only that I have eighteen months more experience of the world than yourself, and am not quite